Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I bid the Tánaiste and his team a good afternoon. I thank him for his opening statement.

I will start on a few positives. In the budget in October, an allocation of €1.23 billion was announced. In the context of the Revised Estimate, the allocation is now €1.25 billion. Obviously ,there is an additional €20 million, which is not to be sneezed at. It is small money for sure, but at least it has us moving in the right direction. I welcome that.

I echo what my colleagues said about the patrol duty allowance that came into effect this day last month. The allowance has been doubled. This landed very well with those in the Naval Service. The members of the joint committee visited Naval Service headquarters 18 months ago. The increase was the big ask of the staff there. I am glad to see it has finally been delivered. That is good.

Deputy Stanton mentioned private healthcare, which is hugely important. A few years back, 200 troops who needed serious operations were on a waiting list. When troops are injured, those injuries can be serous. They jump off buildings and blow stuff up. This will certainly speed up the process of getting them back to work. I very much appreciate that.

It is good that the pay for people with less than three years' service has improved significantly. It was €27,000 a year four years ago. On 1 October next, it will increase to €40,000 under the new pay deal. That is a major psychological threshold breached. It is about a 50% uplift in the lifetime of this Dáil for people with less than three years' service. That is an important message to get out. It means progress, particularly for those to whom I refer.

The delivery of two maritime patrol aircraft last year is an excellent game-changer in the context of what we can do over the Atlantic. That is to be welcomed. I understand that the new C-295 troop transport will be on the assembly line soon in Spain. They are cutting the steel for it at the moment. That aircraft will provide a capability that Ireland has never had when it arrives, probably in the summer of next year, 17 months from now.

I will also address the infrastructure improvements. A lot of money is now being pumped in from an infrastructure point of view for nearly every barracks, which is great. I mention this because if money is provided, it is well spent in the Defence Forces.